Water  Power  on  the 


Santiam  River 


£.  H.  McAlister,  Dean  of  the  College 
of  Engineeriag,  University  of  Oregon 


New  /eries  Volume  2 No.  1 


Univmity  of  Oregon  Bulletin 

Published  Bi-Monthly  by  the  University  of  Oregon. 
Entered  January  2,  1904,  at  Eugene,  Oregon  as  Second 
Class  Matter,  under  act  of  Congress  of  July  >6,  1894. 


NOVEMBER,  1904 


o 


■ V 


rr ' 


' ' ' ' ' ' ' 


WATER  POWER 


ON  THE 

SANTIAM  RIVER 


E.H.  McAlister 

tDean  of  the  College  of  Engineering 
University  of  Oregon 


; 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


ROCK  GORGE  AT  NIAGARA. 


ROCKY  GORGE  A FEW  MILES  ABOVE  NIAGARA. 


Water  Power  on  the  Santiam  River 


EXPLANATORY  NOTE, 


This  Bulletin,  No.  i,  Vol.  II.,  of  the  new  Series,  is  the 
third  industrial  bulletin  issued  by  the  University.  The 
first  was  entitled  ‘‘Water  Power  on  the  McKenzie  River,” 
and  contained  also  “Botanical  Notes”  gathered  by  Profes- 
sor Sweetser  at  the  same  time  with  the  hydrographic 
survev. 

The  second  was  entitled  “Mineral  Resources  and  Min- 
eral Industries  of  Oregon,”  prepared  by  Professor  O.  F. 
Stafford,  of  the  Department  of  Chemistry.  No  more 
copies  of  the  first  bulletin  remain  for  distribution,  the 
issue  of  700  copies  having  been  exhausted  some  time 
since. 

In  the  first  bulletin  referred  to,  the  announcement  was. 
made  that  the  University  had  entered  upon  tl  e poliev  of 
gathering  carefuR  and  reliable  data  as  to  the  industrial 
resources  of  the  state,  and  the  reasons  therefor  were 
set  forth  at  some  length.  It  i^  unnecess'^ry  here  to  repeat 
the  explanation  in  full,  but  the  following  extract  will 
perhaps  be  pertinent : 

“It  is  believed  that  the  University,  while  increasiri2-  its 
store  of  useful  knowledge  for  the  immediate  benefit  of 
its  courses  of  instruction,  can  contribute  materially  to 
the  industrial  development  of  the  state;  and  this  too  at 
a minimum  of  expense,  since  it  already  has  an  organized 
corps  of  men,  well  trained  in  their  specialties,  receiving 


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University  af  Oregon  Bulletin 


a regular  salary,  and  having  a very  considerable  equip- 
ment of  field  instruments,  apparatus  and  laboratory  fa- 
cilities. While  it  is  true  that  this  force  is  not  primarily 
organized  for  the  purpose  of  gathering  information,  it  is 
also  true  that  its  organization  and  equipment  are  exactly 
of  the  kind  required  for  such  a purpose,  and  since  no 
specific  organization  has  been  provided  in  the  state,  or 
could  be  provided  without  a very  large  initial  outlay,  the 
University  feels  under  obligation  to  do  what  its  resources 
will  permit,' in  making  the  largest  possible  return  to  the 
state  for  the  cost  of  its  equipment  and  maintenance. 

“In  a word,  then,  the  policy  of  the  University  under 
which  this  survey  was  begun  is  simply  this:  To  better 
its  courses  of  instruction  for  students,  and  also  to  serve 
as  helpfully  and  fully  as  it  may  its  wider  clientele, • the 
citizens  of  Oregon.” 


GENERAL  DESCRIPTION. 

As  a part  of  the  general  scheme  of  gathering  industrial 
data,  the  hydrographic  survey  herein  described  was  un- 
dertaken to  investigate  the  available  water  power  of  the 
Santiam  River.  This  river  forms  the  boundarv  between 
the  counties  of  Linn  and  Marion,  and  has  its  source  in  the 
snow  banks  that  cover  the  slopes  of  Mt.  Jefiferson,  flow- 
ing westerly  a distance  of  seventy  odd  miles  to  its  con- 
fluence with  the  Willamette  some  eight  or  ten  miles 
below  Albany. 

The  survey  covered  a stretch  of  about  24  miles  of  th-. 
river,  from  a half  mile  above  the  abandoned  railroad 
station  Idanha,  to  Mill  City.  It  is  believed  that  the 
earliest  developments  of  power  on  the  Santiam  are  likely 
to  be  along  the  portion  surveyed. 

For  most  of  the  24  miles,  the  river  flows  through  a 
narrow  canyon,  with  only  infrequent  “flats”  of  small 
area — it  has  nothing  that  could  be  called  a valley.  The 
slopes  of  the  canyon  generally  run  sheer  to  the  river, 
without  the  intervention  of  any  level  bottom  land  such  as 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  wi^Hlffiding  from 

University  of  lllino'is  Ur&alia-bliampaign  Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/waterpoweronsantOOmcal 


VIEW  SHOWING  GENERAL  CHARACTER  OF  THE  SANTIAM  — 
ROCKY  BANKS  AND  NARROW  CANYON. 


T.IANSITS  ITSKD  OX  THE  SKRYEY — THE  SECONDARY  TELESCOPE  ON  THE 
SMALLIH-:  IXSTRLMCNT  ISA  SOLAR  ATTACHMENT  WHICH  WAS  REMOVED 


University  of  Oregon  Bulletin 


5 


is  usually  found  along  most  streams.  These  slopes  are 
in  the  main  covered  with  timber,  much  of  it  valuable; 
in  fact  the  lumber  industry,  with  its  necessary  concomi- 
tants, is  practically  the  sole  dependence  for  the  support 
both  of  the  population  and  of  the  railroad. 

With  few  if  any  exceptions,  the  banks  of  the  stream 
are  either  solid  rock  or  gravel  so  firmly  cemented  with 
clay  and  iron  that  it  stands  at  a nearly  vertical  slope 
from  20  to  40  feet  in  height.  Naturally,  under  these 
circumstances,  the  lateral  erosion  of  the  stream  is  small 
— the  river  simply  cuts  its  channel  deeper  without  cutting 
the  banks  to  any  considerable  extent.  It  appears  prob- 
able that  in  past  ages  there  may  have  been  several  falls 
along  this  portion  of  the  river,  but  at  the  present  time 
the  water  has  cut  a narrow,  deep  and  sometimes  tortuous 
channel  through  the  rock.  In  some  of  these  places  the 
channel  is  not  over  20  feet  wide,  and  in  at  least  one 
place  (at  Niagara),  it  is  less  than  10  feet  wide. 

While  there  are  numberless  little  creeks  and  rills  flow- 
ing into  the  Santiam,  the  only  tributaries  of  any  individ- 
ual consequence  between  Idanha  and  Mill  City  are^  the 
Breitenbush  and  Blowout  Creeks,  of  which  some  men- 
tion will  be  made  later  on. 

The  survey  involved  four  kinds  of  work;  Leveling,  to 
determine  the  elevation  of  the  river  surface  from  point 
to  point,  the  amount  of  fall  between  any  two  points  be- 
ing directly  shown  by  the  difference  of  elevation  ; a tran- 
sit traverse,  showing  the  windings  of  the  stream  bed  and 
distances  along  the  bank ; astronomical  observations  for 
the  correction  of  azimuths  carried  forward  by  the  tran- 
sit; measurements  of  the  stream  flow,  or  the  number  of 
cubic  feet  of  water  passing  a given  section  of  the  river 
in  a second  of  time.  This  work  was  divided  as  follows: 
The  leveling  was  done  by  Mr.  C.  F.  Rhodes,  of  the  class 
of  1905,  assisted  by  Mr.  Carl  McClain,  ’06.  The  transit 
traverse  was  made  by  Mr.  Percy  P.  Adams,  instructor 
in  the  Department  of  Civil  Engineering,  assisted  by  Mr. 


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University  of  Oregon  Bulletin 


J.  A.  Gamber,  ’02,  Registrar  of  the  University,  and  Mr. 
A.  R.  Tiffany,  ’06.  In  the  stream  measurements  all 
members  of  the  party  assisted  in  building  rafts,  when 
necessary,  stretching  the  rope  across  the  river,  making 
soundings,  etc.,  while  in  the  velocity  measurements,  Mr. 
Rhodes  manipulated  the  current  meter,  the  writer  noted 
the  record  of  the  electric  sounder  and  stop  watch,  and 
Mr.  Adams  recorded  the  results.  The  astronomical  ob- 
servations were  taken  at  night  by  the  writer,  assisted  by 
Mr.  Adams.  During  the  day,  the  writer,  as  chief  of 
party,  exercised  general  supervision  over  the  entire  work 
and  carried  on  such  reconnoissance  work  as  seemed  nec- 
essary. The  task  of  reducing  the  field  notes  and  making 
the  necessary  calculations  was  borne  chiefly  by  Mr. 
Adams,  who  also  drew  the  map.  The  methods  of  field 
work  were  substantially  the  same  as  described  in  the  ap- 
l^endix  to  the  McKenzie  Bulletin,  and  need  not  be 
described  here. 


RESULTS  OF  THE  SURVEY. 


The  main  results  of  the  survey  are  shown  on  the  fold- 
ing map  and  profile  following  the  text.  The  profile  of 
the  river  surface  shows  the  elevations  above  sea  level 
of  the  points  designated,  the  elevations  being  given  in 
feet  and  tenths.  The  elevations  stated  are  those  obtained 
at  the  time  of  the  survey.  The  actual  elevations  of 
course  fluctuate  with  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  river,  but 
for  the  most  part  the  profile  would  be  parallel  to  the  one 
given.  At  times  of  flood,  however,  the  shaoe  of  the  profile 
would  be  more  or  less  altered,  since  the  river  rises  most 
in  places  where  the  channel  is  narrow  and  confined,  while 
in  places  where  the  channel  widens  out  the  rise  may  be 
several  feet  less.  The  fall  between  any  two  points  may  be 
found  from  the  profile  by  simply  taking  the  difference 


University  of  Oregon  Bulletin 


7 


of  elevation  at  those  points  and  the  distance  along  the 
river  may  be  counted  on  the  vertical  lines,  which  are  one 
mile  apart.  These  distances  are  the  actual  distances 
measured  along  the  winding  course  of  the  stream.  Cor- 
responding points  on  the  map  and  profile  are  marked  by 
consecutive  numbers. 

Stream  measurements  were  made  at  three  places,  the 
first  a half  mile  above  Detroit,  the  second  below  the 
mouth  of  Blowout  Creek,  and  the  third  just  above  Mill 
City.  These  measurements  consist  of  soundings  taken  at 
intervals  across  the  stream  bed,  together  with  measure- 
ments of  the  velocity  of  the  water  at  numerous  points 
in  the  cross-section  of  the  stream,  the  velocities  being 
taken  with  a standard  current  meter  having  an  electric 
attachment  to  indicate  the  number  of  revolutions  of  the 
wheel  in  a given  time,  noted  by  a stop-watch.  The  dis- 
charge of  the  stream  at  the  points  mentioned  was  found 


to  be  as  follows : 

Cubic  feet 
per  second 

Above  Detroit  1228 

Below  Blowout  Creek  1899 

At  Mill  City  2191 


Those  who  wish  to  know  the  flow  in  miner’s  inches 
may  multiply  the  above  numbers  by  50,  obtaining  re- 
spectively 61,400,  94,950  and  109,550  miner’s  inches. 

As  the  Breitenbush  and  Blowout  Creek  are  the 
principal  tributaries  between  tl  e first  and  second  meas- 
urements, it  will  be  seen  that  these  two  streams  carried 
together  something  over  600  cubic  feet  per  second. 

These  measurements  made  early  in  the  summer,  during 
the  latter  half  of  June,  do  not  represent  quite  the  ex- 
treme low  water  flow  of  the  stream,  but  they  give  what 
may  be  called  the  average  summer  flow ; for  the  Santiam, 
like  other  streams  fed  by  eternal  snow  peaks,  does  not 
markedly  decrease  in  flow  during  the  summer,  though 
there  is  of  course  a slight  diminution. 


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University  of  Oregon  Bulletin 


POSSIBILITIES  OF  THE  SANTIAM. 

It  will  be  noted  from  the  profile  that  the  total  fall  of 
the  river  in  the  24  miles  surveyed  is  nearly  900  feet. 
This,  in  connection  with  the  three  discharge  measure- 
ments, shows  that  the  total  energy  of  the  stream  for  the 
24  miles  is  the  equivalent  in  round  numbers  of  175,000 
horse  power  continuously  exerted.  It  would  of  course 
be  impracticable  to  develop  the  whole  of  this  power,  but 
probably  100,000  horse  power  could  be  economically  de- 
veloped in  a series  of  plants  varying  from  5000  to  10,000 
horse  power  each,  or  any  smaller  amount.  In  one  place, 
at  least,  a 15,000  horse  power  plant  would  be  possible. 

As  to  the  methods  of  development,  a consideration  of 
the  character  of  the  river  canyon,  as  already  described, 
would  indicate  that  canals  of  any  considerable  size  and 
length  would  generally  be  out  of  the  question,  on  ac- 
count of  the  expense  of  excavation.  Possibly  in  two  or 
three  places  canals  of  moderate  length  and  size  might 
be  practical,  but  certainly  such  instances  are  very  rare. 

For  any  large  plant,  a high  dam,  controlling  the  en- 
tire flow  of  the  stream,  would  seem  to  be  the  best  solu- 
tion. Fortunately,  there  are  several  places  which  are 
almost  ideal  dam  sites.  Unfortunately,  some  of  them 
cannot  be  utilized  to  the  full  extent  of  their  natural  ad- 
vantages without  flooding  the  railroad  and  involving  a 
large  expense  for  relocation.  This  is  of  course  not  the 
fault  of  the  railroad,  for’ like  all  other  railroads,  it  was 
laid  out  to  secure  the  best  attainable  grades,  without 
reference  to  the  then  remote  possibility  of  power  develop- 
ment. However,  dams  of  from  30  to  50  feet  in  height 
could  be  constructed  without,  flooding  the  railroad,  and 
at  a very  moderate  expense,  owing  to  the  extreme  nar- 
rowness of  the  channel  and  the  solid  rock  on  sides  and 
bottom.  Such  dams  would  afford  a sufflcient  head  and 


ROCK  GORGE  AND  LOG  JAM  ABOVE  PORTION  OF  UNCOMPLETED  DAM 

SARDINE  CREEK  AT  NIAGARA. 


LIBRARY  . 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


University  of  Oregon  Bulletin 


9 


volume  for  plants  of  from  5^^  8000  or  9000  horse 

power.  At  Niagara  the  height  of  dam  could  be  about  80 
feet  without  interfering  with  the  railroad,  and  probably 
without  doing  any  material  damage  to  other  property. 
This  would  give  a plant  of  about  15000  horse  power.  The 
Niagara  site  is  in  many  respects  not  the  best  one  natur- 
ally, but  it  has  the  advantage  mentioned,  over  sites  far- 
ther up  the  river.  At  several  of  the  sites  referred  to,  the 
curved  or  arched  type  of  dam,  like  the  Bear  Valley  dam 
in  California,  would  be  practicable  and  efifect  a great 
saving  of  masonry  over  the  ordinary  straight  type  of 
gravity  dam. 

For  smaller  plants,  say  up  to  2000  horse  power,  either 
low  dams  affording  a large  volume  under  a small  head, 
or  wooden  flumes,  headed  by  short  diversion  canals,  af- 
fording a smaller  volume  under  a greater  head,  would 
seem  advisable.  The  cost  of  fluming  would  nowhere 
be  extraordinary,  as  there  is  an  abundance  of  timber,  saw 
mills,  and  a railroad  for  transportation.  For  this  method 
of  development,  reference  to  the  profile  will  show  many 
stretches  where  the  fall  exceeds  40  feet  per  mile,  and  in 
one  instance  runs  up  to  70  feet.  A list  of  these  places 
has  been  prepared,  but  reference  to  the  profile  is  so  easy 
that  it  seems  unnecessary  to  print  the  list. 

Doubtless  ingenuity  could  devise  other  methods  of 
development  than  those  mentioned,  but  these  seem  to 
be  the  ones  most  naturally  suggested  by  the  conditions. 

Attention  should  perhaps  be  called  to  Blowout  Creek 
as  a possible  site  for  a high-head  development.  This 
creek  is  said  to  come  from  a lake  which  is  at  no  great 
distance  from  the  river,  but  at  a very  considerable  eleva- 
tion above  the  river.  Opportunity  for  an  investigation  of 
this  matter  did  not  present  itself  during  the  course  of 
the  survey,  nor  were  the  possibilities  of  the  Breitenbush 
examined. 

The  only  water  power  development  so  far  existing  on 
this  portion  of  the  river  is  at  Mill  City,  where  a short 


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University  of  Oregon  Bulletin 


ditch  afifords  power  for  a saw  mill.  Some  money  has 
been  spent  at  Niagara  in  constructing  a portion  of  a 
dam,  but  the  work  has  been  abandoned. 

' " In  Bulletin  No.  3,  some  remarks  were  made  as  to  the 
possibility  of  a market  for  electricity  generated  by 
water  power  at  favorable  sites  and  transmitted  to  the 
valley.  The  same  remarks  apply  to  the  case  of  the 
Santiam.  Judging  from  recent  developments,  the  profit- 
able nature  of  the  trolley  line  appears  to  be  pretty  thor- 
oughly appreciated,  and  doubtless  factories  operated  by 
electric  power  generated  in  the  mountain  streams  will 
soon  follow  the  trolley.  With  the  abundance  of  water 
power  which  the  state  possesses,  there  is  small  excuse  for 
paying  transcontinental  freight  on  manufactured  articles. 

One  other  point  needs  repeated  emphasis.  The  desir- 
ability of  electric  heating  along  with  electric  lighting  has 
long  been  re.cognized,  but  so  far  the  appliances  seem  un- 
satisfactory. Here  is  the  possibility  of  an  enormous  con- 
sumption of  electricity,  and  genuine  progress  in  our 
home  life. 

Considering  the  vastness  of  the  possible  market,  this 
matter  appears  not  to  have  received  the  attention  which 
it  deserves,  and  it  would  seem  desirable  for  those  finan- 
cially interested  to  stimulate  progress  in  this  line.  Our 
water  power  can  give  us  cheap  electricity  in  our  homes: 
let  the  electricians  perfect  an  economical  and  satisfactory 
heating  appliance. 

In  concluding  this  report,  it  may  be  said  that  the 
Santiam  oflfers  many  advantages  in  the  way  of  water 
power  development.  Some  of  these  have  been  set  forth, 
but  not  the  least  is  the  fact  that  a railroad  already  runs  u]) 
the  river  and  would  greatly  lessen  the  cost  of  transpor- 
tation of  machinery,  cement  and  other  materials  required 
in  the  construction  of  a power  plant.  Probably  there  is 
no  other  stream  in  this  part  of  the  state  where  plants  of 
the  capacities  herein  stated  could  be  installed  at  so  low 


WYK  I.KVEI.  AND  CUK’DKNT  METERS 


LIBRARY 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS- 


University  of  Oregon  Bulletin 


11 


a cost.  In  the  future  progress  of  the  middle  VVillaniette 
\^alley  the  water  power  of  the  Santiam,  electrically  trans- 
mitted, is  bound  to  prove  an  important  factor. 


^f6d7./ 


